Although daylight (sunlight) passing through windows, skylights, and light tubes (also referred to as light pipes) can be used as a free source of high quality illumination, it typically has a correlated color temperature (CCT) between 5000-6500K, which is classified as “cool white” and may not be preferred for interior environments. As a result, offices and homes often use conventional artificial lighting during the day to generate a more desirable “warm white” light even though sufficient daylight is available. Offices and commercial properties typically use “warm white” light with a CCT between 3500-4000K and homes typically use a “warmer white” light with a CCT of 2700K.
When windows, skylights, and light tubes are used in commercial office spaces in combination with fluorescent lighting fixtures (typically fluorescent tube troffers), they tend to stand out due to their “cool white” color as compared with adjacent fluorescent fixtures. Although filtering could be used to adjust the CCT of daylight from a “cool white” color to a “warm white” color, filters employ a subtractive process and can reduce the amount of useable light by as much as 50% or more. Therefore, there is a need for a daylight panel that at least in part addresses these problems.